In the early modern European city, public buildings were the main pillars of the political, mercantile and social infrastructure. In a first attempt to create a preliminary overview of current knowledge in various European countries, the IIIe and Ve Rencontres d'Architecture Europeenne, held in 2006 and 2008 at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in cooperation with the Centre Andre Chastel, Paris, were dedicated to this subject. In these two meetings, architectural historians from all over Europe discussed the results of their research on the development of various types of public building in the various European regions between the late fifteenth and mid-eighteenth century. This publication brings together most of the contributions to these two conferences, subdivided into three buildings erected for government and justice; buildings serving mercantile functions; buildings for education, health and social care.